Static
by Neo the Saiyan angel
Summary: Change is constant. People age, mountains erode, even Diablo sauce sours eventually. Shego, confident in her place in the world and with the man she loves, stepped back to play the waiting game not remembering this truth. She tries to start where she left off only to find that things are far different than what she remembered.
1. Waiting

"What?!"

"You heard me." Shego gave Drakken a sharp look, daring him to pretend that he hadn't heard her. But just in case he simply couldn't believe it... "I'm leaving. I quit. End of the line for our partnership."

"But- I don't- You, you can't just do this!" the blue man flailed impotently, the shock evident by the sprouting of numerous grasping vines from around his neck. Amusingly, he pulled out her 5 year contract and waved it at her like a lifeline. "You're under contract!"

"You wanna know what I think of that whole contract thing?" she said, having looked forward to this for the years she'd been waiting for him to try pulling it on her. He gave her a confused frown until she suddenly lit the flimsy piece of paper he was holding on fire, chuckling at his aghast expression while he tried to grab the ashes and put them back together.

"_Shego!_ Why would you do that?!" Drakken growled when he realized there was no fixing the damage done, puffing himself up with anger. "That contract was a legally-binding supervillain-minion contract!"

"Yeah, remind me, which of us is a supervillain and which of us is the minion?" Shego asked, watching for his reaction.

"Well, of course _I'm_ the supervillain," he replied. "You're... Not quite a minion, but still my employee! And as such, you are required to follow the contract we laid out."

"What contract?" she innocently queried. "As far as I know, any such contract existed in one copy, which may or may not have just been incinerated. No one would believe I would subject myself to some contract that referred to me as a minion. And as far as most anyone else is concerned, we never even had that contract. My lawyer'll back me up on whether he wrote one up or not. Besides, we're villains. Since when do _we_ care about legality?""

Drakken comically gasped at her bald-faced assertion. "I can't believe you, Shego! After all the years we've had, and all those times you pulled out that contract to keep me from doing something! You're going to leave me like THIS?"

"Well doy!" She nearly thwapped him upside the head, seeing as how he was the one that usually pulled the card she was about to pull. "I'm EVIL! I may be temporarily retiring from villainy, but that doesn't make me a nice person, _Drewbie_. I do what I _want_ to do when I want to do it! I won't stick around with a dork like you if I don't think it'll be worth my time. Even with a contract, and promises."

"Even if I pay you a lot?" Drakken tentatively asked.

"Money isn't everything," Shego said, ignoring the sudden giddiness at the idea of how much he'd be willing to pay to keep her around. She began to study her nails as he tried to fake-cry some pity out of her. He even began to grovel at her feet, his vines drooping pathetically around him.

As he made a spectacle of himself, her resolve to leave him strengthened. She knew two things for certain at this point: that if she stuck around, she and the doc would become an item, and that she would quickly get bored and leave him if he stayed the same person as he was now. It was painfully obvious after the fiasco at that villain/hero reception thing. If only she'd known he would act like this, she would've blasted him on-stage.

Acting like such a baby just because she was leaving for a while? Pathetic.

Not worthy of her at all.

"Look Dr. D, I don't plan on being gone for forever," she tried to tell him through his whimpering and pleading as she recognized some of it as genuine. "I'm just taking a break. I'll only be gone as long as it takes for you to grow up, got it?"

"Grow up?" he said, snot and a touch of anger getting through the crying. "I'm already a grown man! What, do you want me to be gray and decrepit before you'll come back?"

"Wrong kind of growing up, Doc," Shego sighed. She should've known he wouldn't get it. "Just... Try to get along without me, and I'm sure that once you've grown up and started being serious I'll hear about it. 'kay?"

"No! Not okay! Sheeeegooooo, I need you!"

"Which is exactly what the problem is," she sadly replied. "DON'T call me. At all. I'll call _you_ when I think you're ready. Got it? Good." Shego turned her back to him and resolutely walked out the door, blocking out his cries the entire way.

* * *

Once again, Shego found herself relaxing on her favorite resort's beach. She hadn't gotten any calls from the doc, even in the few months that she had left him to his own devices. It was a relief, really; none of the yelling over the phone like she had with his dumb cloning plan, or the stupid holiday incident with the camping at the North Pole. There was a small wonder at if he took her words to heart or just decided to continue on his stupid, repetitive path of failure, but even the doc wouldn't be _that_ dense. Not after the victory against the Lorwardians.

She had gotten the urge to check in on him every now and then, but quickly brushed those off when she reminded herself that this was more for him than for her. If they were going to be equals in a relationship, he had to build himself up. And if she heard about what he was doing that _wasn't_ some type of ground-breaking, Earth-shatteringly evil plot, then he still wasn't ready for her; after all, if she REALLY wanted to she could take over the world. She just never really wanted too. Too much work for too little reward.

And of course, just as she was thinking of Drakken, the unwelcome gossip that had been haunting Shego's life for the past month since word had gotten out that she'd ditched Drakken hit the beach, and _of course_ she spotted Shego before the green woman could try and dodge her flapping gums.

"Oh great," the beach lounger sighed as the familiar tubby woman skipped over to where she was relaxing.

"Helloooo, Shego," the geneticist cheerily greeted the former villainess/heroine.

"Hello, Amy," she greeted back not-so-cheerily. "Why in the world are you here? Again?"

"Well, I just so happened to be in the neighborhood and realized that my sweetums needed a good polishing. So I checked in and sent him off to get a good scrub and wax. Though it really is inhumane of them to call him 'furniture'. Very insensitive."

Deciding to not mess around with the crazed scientist, Shego bluntly said, "You do realize you're just bothering me at this point, right? This is what, the fifth time you've just so happened to be at the same place I'm at?"

"Sixth. But bothering you? Oh, you're such a silly bear!" DNAmy chuckled while trying her best to get her fingers around Shego's cheeks, completely ignoring Shego's other questions. Employing her agility from her years of work, the green woman evaded Amy's grasp with ease. "I know I'm not _really_ bothering you. If I were, you'd be shooting me away like you did your cutie boss!"

"My cu-ugh." Shego had to resist facepalming at the woman's obvious delusions. "Dr. D is most certainly _not_ a cutie, and even if he were I didn't shoot him away. I'm just taking a much-needed long-term break from him, that's all."

"Oh? You two are just taking a break?" the chubbier woman said, eyeing Shego in a comically obvious fashion. "Are you _sure_ that he knows that? Because really, you wouldn't believe how much things are changing for the bad doctor," DNAmy added in her trademark sing-song voice.

"Yeah, I don't care," Shego grunted at the geneticist's painfully obvious attempt to rouse her curiosity. And she really didn't. That was for _later_, when she got back in touch with the doc. As for now, she didn't wanna hear anything about him. Not in the least.

"Are you sure? It's quite _juicy_," Amy continued pushing.

"Don't you know what 'I don't care' means?" Shego grumbled. "It means 'this topic is closed'. 'I do not want to hear more on it'. 'This is something I will hear nothing about of my own free will'. Get it?"

"I guess..." DNAmy reluctantly answered, the same as usual whenever she tried to bring it up. It was sad, in Shego's opinion, that it had become an 'as usual' thing, but it wasn't her fault that the mad scientist tried to talk about it so much. "Would you at least be up for something tangentially related to him?"

"No!" she practically shouted in response, unable to stop a spurt of flame from shooting from her palm.

"Or maybe calling him? I have it from a good source that he's still crying at your absence." Ms. Hall sighed in longing, completely ignoring Shego's reactions, instead clasping her hands behind her head and spacing off into space. "Isn't that just _so_ romantic?"

"Yea-no. Sniveling with snot leaking out his nose is about as romantic as if he were to show up and get down on a knee to play a bad rendition of an OhBoyz song on a banjo," she replied with a light shiver. "Just shut up about it if you insist on hanging around me."

"Okay Muffin," the larger woman said with a shrug, finally taking the obvious declarations at face-value. "But I bet you'll be kicking yourself later for not listening sooner."

"Not gonna happen," Shego snippily replied, reaching for her music player. "I'm going to sit here, enjoy the rays, and wait until I get a sign that Dr. D is finally ready to b-...to not be so stupid. Until then, keep your opinions to yourself." After a pause, she asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why're you so concerned about me and Dr. D anyway?"

"I'm a sucker for a good romance, though this one seems to be going the way of a cautionary tale," Amy said with a shrug. All Shego did was groan at the obvious jab before putting her headphones on and turning her music up louder than was probably healthy.

* * *

One night about a half-year later, monstrous ink-dyed shades began popping out of nowhere. Their shapes varied like fingerprints, no one design being repeated among them. Fangs longer than her arm in mouths of behemoths; dripping, fleshy tentacles that dissolved whatever they touched; tunneling swarms of clicking beasts. All of them destroying whatever they could get within range. The weirdest thing about them was that they faded in and out of sight, a mirage in reality itself almost.

Shego didn't know where they were from, what they were, or what they wanted. All she knew was that they were ruining her suntan by getting in the way of the sunlight and making a lot of noise when they were eating the beach courtesans.

It was easy enough to scare most of them off. A few blasts of her power and they went scurrying, slithering, flying, and blinking away from her. A handful thought they would be tough guys and try to take her on in hand-to-whatever combat. They soon learned how much of a boner that was. Whatever made them blink through reality did not make them immune to her flames.

After she shooed them all away from the immediate vicinity, she was further annoyed by all the remaining patrons and resort employees gathering around her for protection. What were they _thinking_? She wasn't a hero! Heck, they should've paid her for that sort of protection.

Luckily, it was only a matter of time before Miss Goody-Two-Shoes saved the day with her geeky monkey-boy, or Global Justice, or whatever hero-ish thing managed it. Once the threat to life and limb passed, Shego made sure to get paid by the other resort-goers. As for the employees, she settled for a free week-long stay, free food and hot rock massage included.

Of course, _of course_ that nosey little scrub DNAmy tried to blather to her about Drakken when she showed up again the next day. Why couldn't she have been eaten?

"Oh, you won't _believe_ what happened to him now!" she'd gushed like the gossip she was.

"Is he alive?" was what Shego'd asked.

"Well, yes, Muffin, but those dark meanies-" DNAmy spluttered before Shego cut her off.

"That's all I care about, toots." And that's all she would deign to hear about involving Drakken. She wanted to make it a pleasant surprise on her part for waiting so long for the dork. Whatever accomplishments he achieved were all thanks to her, and she wanted to bask in the glory of it all when the time came for her to reap her rewards.

Besides, now _he_ was being the difficult one by not calling her. Even if she told him not to, he still should have done it.

* * *

Shego was bored. It was a surprise to her as she usually ate up being on the beach, tended to by studs while the local peons and tourists stared in envy. But as the months dragged on, she had found it to be less enjoyable than it used to be. It had already been... Two and a half years? More? She really should have marked the calendar.

Maybe... Maybe she was being too strict with her standards? That plot with the Diablos _was_ pretty impressive, now that it was a distant memory. The fuzziness helped to clear out the sharp annoyances of not knowing and the sudden shifts in her involvement.

But then she thought about the last time she saw him, when she told him she was leaving until he grew up. The crying, the whining, the lack of pride… She would never respect him if that was how he would react to her doing her usual vacation stuff.

Shego decided to finally try calling and checking on him. Just to check and make sure he hadn't somehow keeled over without that bozo Amy hearing about it.

The mercenary pulled out her phone and pulled up the doc's number. Her finger hesitated over the call button for a second before she finally pressed it.

It rang once, before it suddenly had a busy signal cut in. Incredulity mixed with anger surged through her as she realized what must have happened. He shut her off! When she was trying to check on him, no less! That...that idiot! He didn't even know what she was calling about. For all he knew, she was ready to forgive him for being pathetic and take him back.

The only thing that calmed her down was remembering that yes, he was an idiot. He probably didn't even look at his phone when it rang. Doctor D might've been in the middle of an experiment or something, after all. He wouldn't do that on purpose. In fact, when he called back he would probably grovel for her forgiveness or something. That thought made her smile.

"Ohh, what is our dear Sheegie-poo smiling about now? After talking on the phone?"

And there went her smile. "What are you babbling about, Amy?" Shego asked wearily.

"I think a certain someone called a certain someone else!" DNAmy sang, trying to boop the green woman on the nose and failing.

Scowling, Shego growled, "I was not calling Doctor D. I was… Arranging for a masseuse. Got a pain in my neck like you wouldn't believe…"

Amy's own smile faltered at that. "Oh dear." Her head tilted in worry as she asked, "Are you sure you don't want to hear anything about Drakkie-poo? I know you've been rather resistant, but-"

"Has Drakken done something amazing?"

The pudgier woman thought. "Er, of a sort?"

"Something he can brag to me about?" Shego amended with some frustration.

Bristling, DNAmy cried, "Good heavens no! I don't think _anyone_ would brag to you about-"

"Then save it, sister. I'm waiting for something epic from the doc before I even bother reading up on his current exploits. I'm sure it won't be much longer," Shego waved the hesitant woman off. As she relaxed back into her chair and listened to DNAmy lock onto more hapless bystanders, she sighed.

Yes, she could wait a little bit longer.

* * *

Three. Years.

She had been waiting _three years_ for him to make some sort of big splash, to prove that he was worthy of her or, at least, call her back.

But no! That idiot completely ignored her call. Shego just couldn't believe that he was being such an ass about this. Okay, so maybe she should have called earlier. That, however, did not excuse his behavior at all. He was acting ever more like a baby than he used to!

Fidgeting in her luxurious chair in her luxurious room on a luxury resort, she considered her chain of thought. No, that really wasn't right of her now that she thought about it. She did like to troll people sometimes, but accusing them of being a baby because she only called him once? Did he even see that she'd called? It could very well be that the phone number doesn't work or something stupid like that.

...she would give him a little bit longer. Maybe taking on some side work would do her some good. And give her the chance to check up on him without depending on an out-of-date phone number.

* * *

Shego sighed in annoyance as she saw the clock hit midnight. Damn. Four whole years spent out and away from Dr. D. She'd barely managed to not die of boredom during the time.

Barely.

Trying to revamp her reputation had been killer. She was no hero material, but she'd initially been aiming for some neutral role so she could take advantage of both sides. Sabotage a villain here, tutor some villain wannabe there, rescue or kidnap whoever whenever… It would have been completely at her discretion.

Until GJ approached her.

They were far, _far_ more full of themselves than even her mind inflated them to be. Demanding that she cease all villainous activity? Demanding that she be their own personal little spy? _Demanding that she go against that nutball Gemini?_

Yeah, no. She liked money and power and all that generic villain stuff, but she far, far preferred to keep her head firmly attached to her shoulders and her butt clear of any animal bites.

So she had to go a little below the radar to dodge out of that mess. Down to Chile, of all places, to let things cool down and get GJ to back off.

The only problem with the mess was that she didn't get to check in on the doc at all. She didn't even get the kind-of hints from the chubby scientist; Shego had to keep ahead of everyone, including her, to keep from being harassed to do _incredibly_ stupid things at the behest of an agency that was, at its heart, a plaything for one of two insane fraternal twins.

Things had finally settled down at least. Betty had moved on to another poor sap to use as her playing piece. Who it was, Shego didn't know nor care. She was sure that they'd end up as broken or uptight as any other GJ agent. The only thing she was, admittedly, worried about what the bad old doctor was up to lately.

But it would be okay. Drakken was hers, after all, and it wasn't like she had any competition for him. All she needed to do was find someone that knew where he was so she could drag him off to get married or whatever once he showed off whatever his awesome plan was.

Finally, DNAmy would be useful.

* * *

**Author's** **Notes**

_No, I'm not dead. LOTS of stuff has been going on with me. Hit by cars, coworkers deported, working 5 months straight with no days off... Funtimes. But I'm finally getting some steady time off, so I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing. Figured I'd post something a little different. Chapter 2 is nearly done, but I have no idea when I'll have time again to finish it or chapter 3. It might be a long wait..._

_Shego is very, very stubborn sometimes. She managed to dodge Doctor D for a year in close proximity. He did well when he kept plans secret from her. And he fell back into habit when she started hanging around again and listening on his plans. So a forced breakoff to make him shape up to see if he'll actually be the partner that's worthy of Shego. Or if he'll fail. Eh, who knows? All I know is that she stepped back from the main stage. It's not like anything interesting would've happened, right? Right?_


	2. Searching

Shego glared at the line of temporary villain lairs, her mind wondering why she was even bothering with this whole search for Amy when she wanted Doctor D. Of course, this was much easier to think than to actually act as she found out. Finding Amy was one thing since she was at least still active in the villain community to a certain extent, but the doc? Completely off the map. It was almost unnerving.

But even including the failure to find even a thread of evidence about Drakken's whereabouts, finding Amy was a lot more bothersome of a chore than she thought it would be. Stupid DNAmy and her decision to sell her crappy saccharine house and go who-knows-where. Well, _now_ Shego knew where she was, but trying to find her had been a nightmare.

She'd tried tapping into her old contacts to find either Amy or the doc, but for some reason she was having trouble reaching them. _All _of them. Probably had to change their contact info, but Shego was still offended that they hadn't forwarded it to her in some fashion. In fact, she had tried to resort to going to that creep Big Daddy. Tried being the operating word as, to her shock, he had actually gone into semi-retirement. How could information brokers go into semi-retirement and still be relevant?

It did work out for her in the end, though. After playing some of his patently humiliating games, he offered her up a tidbit of info to go see a gentleman he knew in Beijing. Who told her to go to Paris to see a lady friend of his. That gave her the hint to go to Chile. By the seventh go of the stupid fetch quest crap, Shego was ready to roast the next person to try it.

Which she did. It only took a bit of singeing to get the informant to give up the ghost and finally give up the location of that damned geneticist. If her contacts were actually in touch with her Shego knew that she could have dodged all this stupidity.

Shego was finally where she wanted to be, though. The lame-o rent-a-lairs in the outskirts of Lowerton. She hadn't seen these since Drakken had his flashbacks to his ancestor with the bad haircut.

Shaking her head at the silly memory, she walked over to Warehouse 7 and tried the door. Open, as she expected. Brotherson and his games…

Shego walked in confidently, hands alight to provide some illumination. She quickly realized it wasn't necessary, however, as the object of her search was easy enough to see. It's hard not to notice when there's a massive spotlight shining down on an almost comical scene; Amy sitting patiently in a floral chair with a coffee table laden with goodies, a serene smile on her face. Across from her sat an empty identical chair, clearly meant to be where Shego would sit.

Never before had Brotherson been so obvious with a game as he was with this. It was almost disappointing to see how far he'd slipped from being semi-retired.

"It's SO good to see you again!" Amy gushed, interrupting Shego's train of thought. "You know, I had worried when I heard that you took a vacation down in Chile. It was out-of-character for you to run away from something."

Shego snarled, "I wasn't-"

"Or was it?" Amy seemed to consider something. "Silly me, I forgot about your vacations. Always getting away from worrisome worky. And your fear of commitment… I think we were all shocked when you ran off on Drakken!" Amy giggled as she grabbed a cookie. "Let's not even _mention_ your brothers…"

A growl escaped Shego's lips. Fucking Brotherson! What was he playing at? "Amy, don't push your luck. I just need-"

"-what I know about silly Drewbie." The shorter woman bit into a cookie. "Oh, I just love gingersnaps!" She gestured to the open chair, smiling at the lithe mercenary. "Don't be rude; sit down! Let's chat and exchange some juicy girl gossip."

"Thanks but no thanks," she said with some annoyance. A dog she was not, and she was tired of being yanked around like she was on a leash. There wasn't a chance in hell that she was going to sit for Brotherson as well. In fact, she decided, she should be giving the demands right now. The flames in her hands burned brighter as she leaned over to look Amy square in the eye. "I think that maybe we should skip the chit-chat and go straight to you telling me everything I want to know."

"I don't think you're the one calling the shots here," Amy said, wiggling a finger at her.

"Oh really?" She laughed at the sitting woman. "Then who is? Brotherson?"

"Nope!" Her finger instead pointed somewhere behind Shego. "He is!"

"Who-?!" Before she could turn around, Shego felt her arms being twisted and pinned behind her, her flames intensifying even more out of reflex as she cried out in surprise and pain. She was forced to the floor, a knee in the small of her back and her arms twisted to the limits of their flexibility, which, she realized belatedly, had suffered in her self-imposed exile.

"Oh, that's just Jimbo, silly!" Amy tittered delightedly. While she was pinned and unable to move her arms, she could still turn her head enough to see who had attacked her. A tall man with a fez glared down at her, his free, mitten-covered hand-which, to Shego's disgust, matched the pattern on the chairs-holding a tray.

"Jimbo?!" Shego gasped, shocked that Amy had somehow acquired his services. Then she remember that of course she did, Daddy was involved! He was probably recording this crap for future entertainment.

"He'll let you up if you promise to behave yourself," DNAmy said in a sing-song voice. Shego considered just turning up the heat even more, but quickly dropped it when the geneticist added, "If you haven't guessed yet, this material the chairs and his gloves are made of? Same as your suit. The pattern might be different, but I'm surprised you didn't recognize it by the sight all the same." Another giggle escaped her as she asked, "Will you be a good girl and not attack your hosts?"

Shego grumbled, but, after a few tense moments, nodded stiffly and dropped the flames. Jimbo let go of her and stood up, taking care to place the tray of cookies on the table before he lent a mittened hand to her to help her up. The mercenary pointedly ignored his proffered hand, instead opting to stand on her own and brush herself off.

With a flip of her hair and a judgmental glare at Jimbo, Shego walked over to the putrid-patterned chair and sat down. "So, _Amy_, how about you tell me about how the doc's doing? Hmm?" She tried to be as cordial as she could, but couldn't keep the snip out of her tone.

"Hmmm…" The geneticist nibbled on another cookie before shaking her head. "I don't think so, Sugar-Booger. You've been a naughty guest! How about we split the difference?" Amy pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and offered it to Shego. "I won't tell you what he's been doing, but I will give you his address and warn you that you might not like what you find when you get there."

"ARGH! You...you…" The green woman was nearly tearing her hair out at the annoyance levels of the plump woman in front of her. She considered again applying a bit of pressure via heat-to-rear, but the crackling of Jimbo's fists as he eyed her slight freak-out reminded her of why it might not be a wise move. After all, she was a great mercenary and an incredible fighter, but Jimbo was-had been-an experienced bodyguard for a very sought-after man. She could probably take him, but it would cost her.

And it wasn't worth it. The geneticist's info was probably out of date anyway.

"Fine," she snapped, snatching the folded paper out of the waiting hand and unfolding it. "Go ahead and yank me around. I'll still have the last laugh." Eyes darted over the paper's neat yet curly handwriting. And again. Shego sighed as she reread it one last time. "You're shitting me."

"Now now, Shego! Mind your language." Amy popped another cookie into her mouth and giggled. "Really though, I'm surprised that you didn't think to look there."

"How was I supposed to know…?" The mercenary cut herself off, shaking her head. "You know what? I don't care. I'm gonna go to this place and you had better hope that he's actually there!" Her hands lit up as if to burn the paper, but she thought better on it and instead tucked it away in her pocket and lit up some of Amy's cookies instead. "Oops. Looks like some of your cookies burned. What a shame…" Shego tsked as she stood up and turned away, making a show of walking out. "Laters, Amy."

Amy let out a breath of disappointment once she was sure Shego was gone. "Oh dear. It seems I owe Teacher a case of his favorite yum-yums. I didn't think that she was _that_ rusty!" Standing, up, she signaled Jimbo to follow as she turned to leave out the other exit. "I hope that she won't go into shock when she sees the good doctor…"

* * *

Looking from the sheet of paper that Amy had provided her to Drakken's current residence, Shego shook her head in fond annoyance. It seemed...anticlimactic, to find Drakken in the lair he'd had in Middleton. Though she supposed it would be worse if he'd kept that not-secret not-haunted island.

To her surprise, the lair wasn't quite how she remembered it. Instead of being a random little bunch of peaks in the middle of a suburban area with a laboratory at the top, there was now a _house_ built right at the base of the peaks. It was surprisingly average, to her great distaste, having the classic white picket fence, disgustingly cute lawn ornaments, and a sign that said 'Beware of Dog' with a crudely drawn poodle. Shego was certain that Drakken had painted that.

The house itself was even worse. Two story, white shutters, bright blue paint job, garden growing along the front of the house… The only thing Shego could think of that would force Drakken into such depravity was the strong-arming of his mother forcing him to try to adopt some normalcy to his life. And, naturally, he went overboard.

It wasn't surprising that his strong-willed mother stepped in to try and make him change. But that was okay. She was back, and it wouldn't take much to get Drakken back to his usual self. She knew him, after all, and this was _not_ what he wanted.

Shego walked through the chintzy fence and up the little cobblestone path to the door, reflecting on the conversation she'd had with DNAmy. Warning her about change? Drakken and _change_? The worst of it looked to be this house.

HA! Like some crappy decorating was going to stop her!

The door was, as she expected, just as average. There was a doorknocker, but she ignored that in favor of the doorbell. Instead of pushing it once or a few times, though, she kept her finger on the buzzer for a full ten seconds, then kept alternating on and off every other second. Just in case he was in the lab. Shego was generous like that.

It took a minute, but she eventually heard movement inside of the house. A bit of crashing, some muffled curses, and increasingly loud and hurried footsteps making their way to the door. She almost started to self-consciously fix her hair before she caught herself and forced her arms to cross. Gah, what was she nervous about? It was just-

The door opened.

Shego looked at the man who'd opened the door. It was a bit of a shock to her system, seeing Doctor D after so long. Especially since he didn't look like Doctor D.

Oh, she could tell it was him. No one could pull off that flabberghasted look like he could. The differences were still shocking as she had not been expecting them at all.

First of all, he was no longer blue. Drakken was instead strangely pale, almost to a sickly degree. She wasn't really surprised that when he wasn't blue he was amazingly white. It was the fact that he _wasn't blue at all_ that caught her a bit off guard. Shego had never even imagined him without his blue pallor.

Second, his clothes lacked the mad edge they used to have. He was wearing a lab coat, but it was frighteningly practical. It looked like a generic lab outfit from the discount store, except it had spots of stains and burns here and there. She would have entertained the idea that he was an imposter if his coat had been spotless, though the frayed bottoms just screamed at her that he had stopped caring about his mad image. Image was something she was good at; it wouldn't be too long before she whipped him back to shape on that front.

Third, and this one she couldn't fully pin down, he looked...younger? Brighter? There was something about him that lacked that hard anger that seemed to follow him wherever he went before she left. It was weird and vaguely uncomfortable. The only thing she could really think of was that he'd managed to go soft while she was gone. Exactly the opposite of what she'd told him to do when she left.

Really, though, what had she been expecting? Shego was the one that held everything together, after all. She really should have thought about that before she left him to wallow in his failure.

She was still going to rag on him about it, though.

Shego opened her mouth to begin her snarky tirade on his failings, only to find that Drakken had also taken her in and regained himself-enough to snarl at her and slam the door in her face. That only shocked her to silence for a moment.

"What the hell?!" she yelled through the door. Shego knew he was still there; he hadn't stormed off like he most certainly would have if he was going to leave.

"Go away!" Drakken shouted through the door. "Go away or I'll release the hound!"

"Yeah, right," Shego snarked as loud as she could. "Such a vicious little poodle. Shaking in my boots here." A sigh escaped her as she pounded on the door. "Would you just let me in? My car broke down anyway, so I'm kind of stuck here. You might as well let me in." An easy little white lie would get the doc to let her in-

"Liar!" Drakken snapped. The green woman heard the lock click.

-or not.

She lightly growled to herself. This was not how she'd imagined it would be. Drakken was a lot angrier than the mercenary had ever thought he would be about her returning. What in the world was wrong with him?

Shego decided to give voice to the thought. "What in the world is wrong with you?"

There was a small pause before he replied, "What's wrong with _me_?! What's wrong with you, Shego!?" Suddenly the lock clicked and the door swung open, and Shego was face-to-face with a severely red-faced (a state she never thought she'd see him in) and pissed off Drakken.

"What do you mean what's wrong with me? You're the one who is being weird," she countered, cocking her hips in annoyance.

"YOU LEFT!" he bellowed, his voice a tangled mix of confusion, anger, and a tinge of hurt. "You left, said that, that I 'wasn't good enough'! What was with that whole growing up thing you were talking about? I just-" Drakken had to pause to take a couple breaths before meeting her eyes with a glare. "I do not want to talk right now."

"I didn't-"

"I WILL," he spoke over her, "talk with you _later_." A short pause, she could tell he was gathering his thoughts. "At dinner. I… I need to think. And talk with a therapist."

"Yeah, okay. Sure," she replied, feeling a satisfaction settle around her. Dinner was what she had been aiming for anyway. Catch up, get a meal, figure out where to take their lives from here. She could give him a few hours to talk with his therapist. "I'll be back around…" she spared a glance at her watch "...six? That's long enough to call up a shrink and fix some grub."

Drakken stiffly nodded. "Yes. Six. That'll work."

"Got it. It's a date," Shego said with a chuckle. She skipped off to her car, leaving Drakken sputtering at her statement. As an afterthought, she added, "Oh, and no spinach puffs or cocoa moo!"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

_I'm still not dead! Things at work finally settled down to a regular schedule, mostly because I kind of collapsed at work... Yeah... Anyway, hope this chapter is enjoyable._


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